Raincoated Blossoms

This is a macro photo of Mt. Laurel blossoms coated in rain taken free-hand with a Canon MP-E65mm. Free-hand with this lens is tricky because the high magnification causes a very shallow depth of field. Along with this, this lens has not auto focus and is completely manual, so instead of having the option to rely on the lens and camera communicating and focusing on the subject, or even having a focus ring on the lens to turn to adjust the focus when the subject is in frame, the photographer must physically move the camera either closer to, or away from, the subject to get it in focus. But all of this hard work is worth it for a glimpse at the detail of something so small that it would typically go unnoticed with the naked eye.

Bryant Heffernan

My name is Bryant Heffernan. I live in Lyme, a small town in Connecticut, with my five idiot dogs and my expecting wife (a boy, our first). I studied film and English Lit at The University of Miami, and have always viewed myself as a creative person. I have been into photography since I was very young, but have only recently reignited my interest in this hobby and, in doing so made my passion for photography even stronger. In the past I had tried to capture the best images possible, at that specific moment when I put my camera to my eye, in my camera, which is what I thought photography was ALL about. I thought of any sort of post-processing as a crutch and a cheat, a way to trick your viewer. But while reading up on underwater photography (a great textbook by Martin Edge titled 'The Underwater Photographer'), a new area of photography I wished to dive into (pun entirely intended), and the techniques used to be successful with a camera under-the-sea, I slowly began to realize that most successful photographers use at least minimal post-processing on their images (with underwater photography it can be entirely necessary). So, while doing research on underwater equipment and tactics I simultaneously went back through the photos I have taken over years and years, picking out the ones that I remember loving when I captured them, as well as some that I knew I would have loved if they had been captured with just a bit more skill (or luck), maybe due to the exposure, or the camera being a little crooked, etc. I took these files and messed around with them in a program that Mr. Edge mentioned in his book, Adobe Lightroom. Once I saw what I was able to accomplish with not just my most loved photos, but also some of the "these-woulda-been-great-if" photos, all the rest was history. I was inspired to teach myself Lightroom, aspects of Photoshop, ZereneStacker (for macro photo stacking), Photomatix (for processing HDRs) and PTGui (for panoramas). This inspiration and desire to learn these programs roused an eagerness in me to get out with my camera as much as possible and try to capture the best images I could, even if they were somewhat ordinary, and make them into something extraordinary. Now, I'm not saying that my photos are all heavily processed and do not display what I actually saw when taking the photo, there are a few (mostly the HDRs and some others with a more "artsy" slant on them), but the majority are simply touched up to bring out stronger contrast and colors. As you can see in my gallery, and on my flikr photostream, https://www.flickr.com/photos/bryantheffernan/ (shameless plug), I take mostly landscape and macro photos, drawing my main inspiration from Peter Lik, Marting Edge, and many macro photographers on Flikr. I shoot with a Canon 7D, sometimes my old Canon 50D, with all Canon Lenses; an EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM (my go-to, versatile but HEAVY), an EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM (provides amazing colors and D.O.F.), an EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (for underwater macro and larger subjects), and a MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Photo (the most amazing lens I've used, but quite tricky to get a feel for). My goal is to get my work out there by providing YOU with inexpensive wall decor and a different point of view of the ordinary, cliche and unnoticed. I hope you like my work, I hope my work inspires you as others have inspired me, and I hope that you keep coming back because there is MORE TO COME! Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. If you see any photos on my flikr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/bryantheffernan/ (sorry, had to do it again), that are not available here let me know and I will add them to this gallery for purchase (sans watermark, of course). Thanks again!